


Dance Lessons

by lyrana



Series: The Order 1886 collection [18]
Category: The Order: 1886
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-07 14:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4266489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyrana/pseuds/lyrana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wanted to look a little into Isabeau and Sebastien's relationship. Features a young Isabeau.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance Lessons

When Isabeau was younger, before she joined the order, her father would often invite other knights over to their house for tea to discuss business in the comfort of home. She remembered always eyeing them curiously when they came to visit. These men and women had lived for centuries, seen things she couldn’t imagine, and young Isabeau had trouble wrapping her head around that concept.

The second Sir Perceval, Sebastien Malory, was one of the knights who came around the most often, no doubt due to him being one of the oldest knights in the order (aside from her father of course).

Her father had briefly mentioned once that when Queen Elizabeth reigned over England, Malory would attend all of the royal parties and known to be excellent dancer. So much so that women from all ranks would come to these parties hoping to dance with him. To Isabeau, it seemed so absurd. Perceval was such a serious man, and she couldn’t imagine him going to parties and dancing all of the time.

Isabeau read up on England during the Elizabethan era, learning about the society at the time, what sorts of clothing they’d wear, and, of course, about Queen Elizabeth’s prosperous reign. In one of her books, there was a brief instruction on how to do a popular dance from that time.

Isabeau had decided to try and learn the steps, though she was never good at dancing and books weren’t great teachers either. Alastair had caught her once and after he briefly teased her, much to her chagrin, he suggested she ask Sebastien for a lesson.

“You’d honestly think he’d teach me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. Alastair shrugged.

“Why not? You might as well as ask, I mean the worse thing he could say is no.”

Alastair did have a point, so the next time Sebastien came by for a visit, and wasn’t busy talking to her father, she sat next to him and asked him to teach her.

“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?” he asked, bewildered. By then, Isabeau’s confidence had withered away.

“Just a few steps that’s all… I heard you were a good dancer so I figured I could ask you.” Isabeau, in her youth, was a small young woman, but she never felt smaller until this moment.

Sebastien raised an eyebrow, “Who told you I was a good dancer?”

“Does it really matter? Can you please teach me?” she pleaded, clasping her hands together and pouting.

“Fine, I don’t see why not,” he sighed. “Though mind you, I’m a little rusty. It’s only been a hundred years since I last danced.”

Holding onto her hands, Sebastien lead her through the steps of a dance he claimed to have been a master of ‘back in the good old days’ and was quick to correct her whenever she made a mistake. He was a good teacher, and certainly an expert at dancing, which Isabeau still found so unusual. As he taught her, she would ask him questions about Queen Elizabeth and her reign, and he would give her first-hand accounts of everything he knew, which was far more interesting than the books she read had to say. It made Isabeau envious that he got to live so long that he could recall things from centuries ago, and she wanted to experience the world the same way he and the other knights did.

They practiced until Isabeau’s feet hurt. By then, she had become pretty adept at what Sebastien taught her, or at least that’s what he told her.

“Perhaps would’ve been just as good as me at the ball,” he chuckled.

Isabeau smiled and rolled her eyes, “I know you’re only saying that to be nice.”

“No, no,” he laughed and patted her back. “Not at all.”


End file.
